The offense steals the headlines: The Lightning are first in goals per game and second in power play percentage in the NHL. Tampa Bay’s scoring is much more balanced this season, exemplified by the fact that fourth liner Yanni Gourde is two scores behind Nikita Kucherov for the goal lead. The team’s attack is different, with fewer scoring chances off the rush and more time spent on the cycle. Still, what last night’s 5-2 victory over the Buffalo Sabres highlights is how well the Lightning’s defensemen are playing.

At 5v5, the Lightning allowed four high-danger scoring chances and 16 scoring chances in the best defensive performance by the group this season. Buffalo’s Jack Eichel accrued zero scoring chances at 5v5. The Bolts’ defensemen forced many one-and-done’s and created turnovers in the neutral zone with their tight gaps. The Lightning breakout was excellent last night. The poise by Tampa Bay’s defensemen in their retrievals, along with support from the forwards, foiled the Sabres’ forecheck and gave the offense more looks. One prominent example is the Gourde goal.

The pass from Sam Reinhart to Eichel didn’t connect, but it did present a forecheck opportunity for the Sabres. With Eichel nipping at Ryan McDonagh’s heels, McDonagh calmly tapped the puck toward the corner – and away from Eichel – where Gourde was skating in support. The puck was swiftly moved out of the defensive zone. The forecheck was quashed. The F1 was unable to create a turnover and the Lightning support dismantled the secondary pressure. Thanks to a speedy breakout, the Lightning would go on the attack, and in that same sequence, McDonagh would hammer a shot from the blue line and Gourde would deflect it in for the eventual game-winning goal.



On the first shorthanded goal – although it had been four-on-four for most of the sequence – the Bolts won the faceoff and Cernak went D-to-D to McDonagh. McDonagh swept the puck toward the outside hash marks on the right circle for Cirelli to scoop up and start the counterattack. Fluidity on the passing by the defensemen is crucial because Eichel and Reinhart were converging on Cernak and McDonagh respectively. The quickness of the zone exit allowed the Lightning to put Paquette in a one-on-one matchup against Jeff Skinner on defense, which would give the Lightning a comfortable 4-2 lead.



Credit to Cirelli for quickly identifying an area pass that would force Skinner to choose between playing the puck or continuing to skate and try to play the body.

The Lightning penalty kill is indomitable right now as they are nearly perfect in their last 30-plus attempts. Yes, Andrei Vasilevskiy is the biggest reason for that success. But last night the Lightning thwarted four Sabres’ power-play opportunities while also notching two shorthanded goals. There were lucky moments, like when Victor Olofsson rang a shot off the bar, but the growing sample of success is impressive. And, again, this is a testament to the positioning of the Tampa Bay defensemen to block shots and limit rebounds, as well as the speed with which they sail the puck out of the offensive zone when given the chance.

The Sabres did capitalize on two Lightning defensive miscues. There was the Sam Reinhart goal, where the defensemen and forwards were slow to react to the rush up the ice and left the weak side vulnerable. And the Mikhail Sergachev gaffe. But aside from that, the Lightning kept tight gaps and were pinpoint on their passing. Erik Cernak sprung Nikita Kucherov for an odd-man rush with a nice stretch pass that very nearly led to Kucherov’s second goal of the night, and the ability of the defensemen to connect on long passes put the Sabres on the defense for a lot of the game. It’s also worth mentioning that Sergachev made good on his costly mistake, tallying a goal on the power play with a gorgeous wrist shot to tie up the contest.

At the beginning of the season, the breakout looked broken. The defensemen were constantly turning the puck over because of poor decisions and because the forwards weren’t providing support. Puck management was a problem that saw the Lightning playing in their own end a lot. Now, the future looks rosier, and it’s a chicken-or-the-egg question: Has an improved forecheck boosted the breakout, or has more diligence and support in the Bolts’ own zone led to more offense?

Regardless, it is a marked improvement, and the contributions are far-reaching. It is not hyperbolic to say that the fourth line is sometimes the Lightning’s most consistent. Last night presented a vision for how the Lightning want to squeeze their opponent, and while they got victimized by some iffy calls, too many power play chances for the opponent is the only potential downside.

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